The Lords Supper with Some other Determinations and Disputations, Half title – To the reader
A BRIEF DECLARATION OF THE LORDS SUPPER WRITTEN BY BISHOP RIDLEY.
Imprimatur,
Liber cui Titulus, [A Brief Declaration of the Lord's Supper, &c.]
Guil. Needham RR. in Chriſto P. ac D. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant. a Sacr. Dom. Junii 7. 1688.
A BRIEF DECLARATION OF THE Lords Supper, WRITTEN By Dr. NICHOLAS RIDLEY, Biſhop of LONDON, During his IMPRISONMENT.
With ſome other Determinations and Diſputations concerning the ſame Argument, by the ſame Author.
To which is Annexed
An Extract of ſeveral Paſſages to the ſame Purpoſe, out of a Book, Intituled, DIALLACTION, written by Dr. JOHN POYNET, Biſhop of Wincheſter in the Reigns of E. 6. and Q. Mary.
LONDON: Printed for Ric. Chiſwell, at the Roſe and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard, M DC LXXX VIII.
THE PREFACE.
THE Doctrine of Tranſubſtantiation maintained by our Adverſaries of the Church of Rome, is ſo groſs, and highly repugnant to the firſt principles of reaſon, and univerſal ſenſe of mankind, that directly to defend it would be no leſs impoſſible than unſucceſsful. Artifices therefore were neceſſarily to be invented, which might palliate the deformity of ſo monſtrous an Opinion; and divert inquiſitive perſons from a direct examination of it, by amuſing them with confident aſſertions and extraneous Controverſies. Among theſe, the difference of Opinion between the firſt Reformers and preſent Divines of the Church of England hath of late been propoſed and urged with the greateſt vehemency; as if the firſt Reformers had believed ſomewhat equivalent to Tranſubſtantiation; and our preſent Divines, by aſſerting no other than a figurative Preſence of the material Body of Chriſt, had degenerated from the belief of their Forefathers.
We might juſtly admire the unreaſonable confidence of thoſe men, who are not aſhamed to propoſe ſo manifeſt and groſs a falſhood, and eſteem it the higheſt folly; if we did not remember that it is taken up to defend a deſperate Cauſe, which admits no better Remedies. Can any Man in his right wits believe that ſo many hundred Martyrs ſhould ſuffer death, and ſpend their blood for ſo inconſiderable a nicety, as was the difference between them and their Perſecutors in the Doctrine of the Euchariſt, if theſe late Repreſenters may be believed? That both Parties ſhould diſpute ſo earneſtly and vehemently againſt each other, and yet after all agree in the main? That the Romiſh Biſhops ſhould treat the Reformers as Hereticks for denying Tranſubſtantiation; and the Reformers lay down their lives rather than acknowledge it; and yet neither the firſt to have defined it to be true, nor the laſt believed it to be falſe? Such crude Poſitions can find no entertainment, but in a mind already fitted to receive Tranſubſtantiation it ſelf, that is, devoid of Senſe and Reaſon.
If we enquire the Reaſons and Arguments, wherewith our Adverſaries maintain ſuch incredible and extravagant aſſertions, we ſhall find them to be no other than theſe, That the firſt Reformers taught and aſſerted a Real Preſence of the Body and Blood of Chriſt in the Sacrament; That they maintained the Body and Blood to be verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful Communicants; That they frequently affirmed the natural and ſubſtantial Body of Chriſt, that very Body which was taken by him of the Virgin Mary, to be preſent in the Sacrament. Theſe very expreſſions are at this day uſed by the Divines of the Church of England; whom yet our Adverſaries pretend to have departed from the belief of their Forefathers in this matter: So that if they prove the firſt Reformers to have believed a material preſence of Chriſt's Body, they will prove our Preſent Divines to believe the ſame. For the whole Controverſy will come to this iſſue, Whether they believed any material Preſence of Chriſt's Body, or any part of it, either by converſion, ſubſtitution, or union? If they poſitively diſowned this, as moſt certainly they did; then whatſoever expreſſions they might uſe, they could believe no other than a figurative Preſence of Chriſt's Body properly ſo called; which our Adverſaries now traduce under the name of Zuinglianiſm. And, indeed, if we give them leave to explain themſelves, they tell us, That in ſuch expreſſions they uſe the terms of Real Preſence, Nature and Subſtance, not as Philoſophers, but as Divines; and that by denying the Euchariſt to be a figure only, or a naked figure, they mean no more, than that it is a true and real communication of the virtues and benefits of his Body, not only a meer figurative commemoration of them, which is the true notion of Zuinglianiſm.
To prove this, and vindicate the honour of the firſt Reformers and modern Divines of our Church, and demonſtrate the intire conformity of the belief of both; it is thought convenient to cauſe ſome one Treatiſe of the firſt Reformers concerning this Subject to be Reprinted, that ſo every one might judge for himſelf, whether the pretenſions of our Adverſaries be indeed true and juſt; or rather the Preſent is intirely conformable to the precedent Doctrine of the Church of England. To this end, among all the Writings of the firſt Reformers, this Treatiſe of Biſhop Ridley, which we here publiſh, will conduce moſt, by reaſon of the great and eminent Authority of the Author, which was ſo highly conſiderable beyond that of any other Reformer, that he may juſtly be eſteemed the Standard of the Doctrine of the Church of England at that time. Not only the aſſurance of his great learning and eminent ſtation in the Church, renders this probable; but that great part which he had in managing the Affairs of the Reformation, and the extraordinary deference paid to his Authority, and truſt repoſed in him by all Convocations, and the whole body of the Reformers, demonſtrate it. None can reaſonably be put in competition with him, except Archbiſhop Cranmer; and he alſo in his diſputation at Oxford profeſſed, that he received his Opinion concerning the Euchariſt from Biſhop Ridley. This the Romiſh Clergy were ſo ſenſible of in the time of Queen Mary, that by a plauſible calumny they endeavoured to perſuade the World, that the private opinion of Ridley was the only foundation of the Doctrine of the Reformed Church of England: For Brooks Biſhop of Gloceſter, Fox's Martyrol. Vol. 3. p. 425.Queen Maries Commiſſioner, diſputing againſt him in the publick Schools at Oxford, uſed this among other Arguments, What a weak and feeble ſtay in Religion is this, I pray you? Latimer leaneth to Cranmer, Cranmer to Ridley, and Ridley to the ſingularity of his own Wit: So that if you can overthrow the ſingularity of Ridley's Wit, then muſt needs the Religion of Cranmer and Latimer fall alſo. To which I may add the words of Dr. Fecknam, Abbot of Weſtminſter, in his Speech in Parliament, Primo Elizabethae, made in defence of the Church of Rome, which I have ſeen in Manuſcript. Dr. Ridley, the notableſt learned of that Opinion in this Realm, did ſet forth at Paul's Croſs the real preſence of Chriſt's Body in the Sacrament, with theſe words, which I heard, ſtaying then preſent; how that the Devil did believe the Sacrament of God was able to make of Stones Bread: And we Engliſh people, we do confeſs that Chriſt was the very Son of God, and yet will not believe that of Bread he made his very Body Fleſh and Blood; wherefore we are worſe than the Devil: ſince that our Saviour by expreſs words did more plainly affirm the ſame, when at his laſt Supper he took Bread, and ſaid unto his Diſciples; Take ye, eat, this is my Body, which ſhall be given for you. And ſhortly after, the ſaid Mr. Doctor Ridley notwithſtanding this moſt plain and open Speech at Paul's Croſs, did deny the ſame.
Whether Fecknam hath truly repreſented the words of Ridley, is uncertain. But from the laſt words of this paſſage it is manifeſt, that ſome, even in that time, taking occaſion from this Sermon, had charged Biſhop Ridley with aſſerting a Material Preſence of Chriſt's Body in the Sacrament: and that he conſtantly denied himſelf to have meant or intended any ſuch preſence. In this therefore, and ſuch like expreſſions, he intended only (as himſelf aſſures us) to oppoſe thoſe, who ſo lightly eſteemed the Sacrament, Ibid. vol. 3. p. 35.as to make of it but a figure. For that but maketh it a bare ſign, without any more profit. But to clear his intention in this matter from all remaining ſuſpicion of any kind of Material Preſence, I will annex a larger explication of it in his own words, in his laſt examination before the Queens Commiſſioners, September 30. 1555.
In like ſort, as touching the Sermon, which I made at Pauls Croſs, you ſhall underſtand, that there were at Pauls, and divers other places, fixed railing Bills againſt the Sacrament, terming it Jack of the Box, the Sacrament of the Halter, Round Robbin, with ſuchlike unſeemly terms. For which cauſes, I, to rebuke the unreverend behaviour of certain evil diſpoſed perſons, Preached as reverendly of that Matter, as I might, declaring what eſtimation and reverence ought to be given to it; what danger enſued the miſ-handling thereof; affirming in that Sacrament to be truly and verily the Body and Blood of Chriſt, effectually by Grace and Spirit. Which words the unlearned underſtanding not, ſuppoſed that I had meant of the groſs and carnal being, which the Romiſh Decrees ſet forth, That a Body having life and motion, ſhould be indeed under the ſhapes of Bread and Wine.
This Treatiſe was written by Biſhop Ridley during his impriſonment, a little before his death, and ſeveral Copies of it diſperſed abroad; of which, ſome being carried beyond Sea, Dr. Grindall, and other Engliſh Exiles, conceived a great deſire of cauſing it to be tranſlated into Latin, Ibid. p. 374.and Printing it. The Biſhop hearing of this, deſired that by all means they would lay aſide their reſolution, till they ſhould ſee how God would diſpoſe of him. Accordingly it was omitted till his death. Immediately after his Martyrdom it was Tranſlated into elegant Latin, but in a Paraphraſtical way, and Printed at Geneva 1556. in 12s. The Engliſh Copy was Printed at London 1586. 12s. which we have now cauſed to be faithfully Reprinted; adding to it out of Mr. Fox's Martyrology, divers Speeches, Diſputations and Determinations upon the ſame ſubject, which might farther illuſtrate and confirm his Opinion.
Laſtly, Becauſe the late Biſhop of Oxford, in his laſt Treatiſe, diſputing of the ancient Opinion of the Reformed Church of England concerning the Euchariſt, and as his Cauſe required it, maintaining the ſame aſſertion with our Adverſaries, That ſome material ſort of Preſence was then believed; doth mightily urge the Authority of the Learned Dr. Poynet, Biſhop of Wincheſter, at that time propoſed in his Diallection; and becauſe that Book is not in Engliſh, I have ſelected and annexed ſeveral paſſages out of it, which may demonſtrate what was indeed his notion of the Real Preſence; That he denied all manner of Material Preſence, and perfectly agreeth with Ridley in explaining the nature of it: And conſequently, that he is fouly either Miſrepreſented or Miſtaken by the Biſhop of Oxford.
A BREEF DECLARATION OF THE Lordes Supper. WRITTEN By the ſinguler Learned Man, and moſte conſtant Martyr of Chriſte, NICHOLAS RIDLEY, Biſhop of LONDON,
Priſoner in Oxford, a little before he ſuffered Death for the true teſtimonye of JESUS CHRISTE.
ROM. VIII.
For thy ſake are we killed all day long, and are counted as ſheep apoynted to be ſlain.
Neuertheleſſe, in all theſe thinges we ouercome through him that louelove vsus.
Printed at LONDON, 1586. And Reprinted for Ric. Chiſwell, 1688.
TO THE READER.
VNderſtand good (Reader) that this great Clark and bleſſed Martyr, Biſhop Nicholas Ridley, ſought not by ſettinge foorth any notable peece of learned woork, the vaine glory of the World, nor temporall freendſhip of men, for his preſent aduancement, much leſſe he hunted heerby for Biſhopricks and Benefices, as al his aduerſaries, the enemies of Chriſts Trueth and Ordinance commonly doo: but hauing conſideration of the great charge of Soules committed vntounto him, and of the account thereof, which the Iuſtice of God would require at his handes, intending therwithal to be found blamles in the great daye of the Lord, ſeeing he was put a parte to defende the Goſpell: He not only forſook Landes, Goodes, World, Freends, and himſelfe with all, and teſtified the Trueth ſpecified in this Book by his learned mouth, in the open preſence of the World: but alſo to leaue a ſure Monument and LoueLove Token vntounto his Flocke, hee hath regiſtred it by his owne Pen in this forme enſuinge, and ſealed it vp with his Blood. Foraſmuch then as he hath proued himſelfe no vain diſputer, no wethercocke, nor hipocrite, ſeeing hee hath willinglye giuen his life for the Trueth, and in as much alſo as his louelove and moſte conſtant chriſten Conſcience ſpeaketh vntounto thee (gentle Reader) I beſeech thee for Chriſts ſake and thine owne, lend him thine indifferent hart and pacient hearing.